PREMSTAETTEN, Austria--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--ams (SIX:AMS), a leading worldwide supplier of high performance sensor
solutions, today introduced an integrated color point sensor IC, which
marks a breakthrough in the product category, providing dramatically
improved accuracy while cutting bill-of-materials and production costs
for manufacturers of handheld color analysis instruments.

“The AS7261 opens the door to an entirely new generation of color
measurement devices for mass-market applications such as retail color
matching, display calibration and simplified analysis tools for
industrial and consumer use”

The new AS7261 JENCOLOR® XYZ sensor is a complete platform for color
sensing, which eases design-in and simplifies production processes for
manufacturers of professional or consumer colorimeters and color
analysers. Capabilities include:

CCT and full-color sensor which provides direct XYZ color co-ordinates
consistent with the CIE 1931 2° Standard Observer framework. It also
maps the XYZ co-ordinates to the x, y (Y) of the two-dimensional color
gamut and scales them to the CIE 1976 u’v’ coordinate system.

multi-channel filter set integrated at the silicon wafer level,
providing Dark, Clear and Near-Infrared channels as well as the XYZ
color sensing channels

programmable LED driver for electronic shutter control and
synchronization

aperture with integrated lensing built into the device’s 4.5mm x 4.7mm
LGA package, deli-vering a ±20.5° field of view for high sensing
accuracy

a simple text-based AT command set enabling a host microcontroller or
processor to configure operation of the device

The AS7261’s accurate tri-stimulus XYZ color sensing capability means,
that it mimics the human eye’s response curve, known as the ‘standard
observer’ color model as represented by the CIE 1931 and CIE 1976 color
mapping systems. The measurements of white light made by the AS7261 are
typically accurate to ±0.002 du’v’ on the CIE 1976 scale.

This high performance, superior to that of any comparable chip-scale
color sensor on the market, is maintained thanks to the durable and
stable silicon filter set integrated on to the sensor die. The filter is
highly resistant to the temperature and ageing effects to which
conventional filters are prone, and intelligence integrated into the
sensor allows for calibration as part of the manufacturing process.
These in-line calibration processes often eliminate the need for end
product manufacturers to calibrate each end-device on their own
production line.

“The ams AS7261 JENCOLOR tri-stimulus sensor represents a leap forward
in silicon color sensing technology. By combining the high stability and
precise nature of silicon interference filters with sophisticated
calibration capabilities, ams has been able to create the first
system-on-chip for color analysis at consumer price points that delivers
precision which rivals devices costing substantially more”, said Tom
Griffiths, Senior Marketing Manager at ams.

The simplified optical and mechanical design of the AS7261’s package
enables rapid integration and systems design. The sensor benefits from
competitive unit pricing and can be implemented in an end product design
with the addition of just external LEDs and very few other components.
This means, that the design, bill-of-materials and assembly costs are
all substantially lower for users of the AS7261 than for products using
earlier color sensor ICs.

“The AS7261 from ams provided us an ideal combination of elements
including accurate and stable filter elements and an easy-to-implement
design at the right price point. That combination enabled us to leverage
the core design of our NODE industrial-standard color sensing instrument
and quickly develop and launch a new color identification device, the
Color Muse, just six months after initiating the project”, commented
George Yu, CEO of Chattanooga, Tennessee-based color sen-sing expert,
Variable Inc (www.variableinc.com).
“Innovations such as the ams spectral sensing family are opening new
avenues to help us expand our Internet of Color Solutions and will
broadly enable a wide range of consumer and portable spectral sensing
solutions.”

The AS7261’s combination of superior performance, small size and lower
cost is expected to make it popular in handheld devices implementing
functions such as paint color matching, fluid color ana-lysis, display
management, light metering and many other applications for portable
spectrometry and color analysis. Its low power consumption means, that
it is well suited to use in battery-powered products: it draws a maximum
operating current of just 5mA, and works from a 3.3V supply.

“The AS7261 opens the door to an entirely new generation of color
measurement devices for mass-market applications such as retail color
matching, display calibration and simplified analysis tools for
industrial and consumer use”, Griffiths concluded.

The AS7261 is available now in production volumes. Unit pricing is $4.00
in an order quantity of 1,000 units.

An evaluation board for the AS7261 JENCOLOR XYZ sensor is available from
the ams ICdirect online store. For sample requests or more technical
information, please go to www.ams.com/Multi-Spectral-Sensing/AS7261.